


Next Year May We Be Free

by LylaRivers



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Gen, Pesach | Passover, jewishcomicsday, like... only if you squiny, the cherik is very slight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 13:04:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7052947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LylaRivers/pseuds/LylaRivers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik absolutely DOES NOT want to celebrate Passover.<br/>Really he doesn't. <br/>Well... maybe a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Next Year May We Be Free

**Author's Note:**

> This is my work for #jewishcomicsday, as proposed by prismatic-bell on tumblr. Please enjoy!
> 
> See the end for a terms glossary, if you're not familiar with Passover or Hebrew.

“I told you, Charles.  It’s fine.  I’m not doing anything special,” Erik grumbles.  “I don’t need special dishes, I’m not planning on having a seder, and I absolutely do not want to be eating matzah for a week.”

“I just want to make sure you feel at home here, my friend,” Charles says easily.  He wheels through the kitchen, shifting things around.  “It’s really no trouble at all if you want a set of Passover specific dishes, or for us to clean out the house.”

“It would defeat the purpose of cleaning the house completely if you were to just bring chametz right back in,” Erik mutters.  

Charles looks at him.  “And what if we didn’t?”

“Didn’t… what?”

“Bring… hametz back into the house?” Charles asks, leaving off the guttural on the foreign word.

“Charles, do you even know what you’re suggesting?” Erik asks.  He opens the cupboard, `rummaging through as he talks.  With each new food item, he pulls a specimen out of the cabinet.  “Chametz.  Nothing at all with yeast, nothing that rises.  No bread, pasta, cookies, cakes, rice, or anything else of the sort.  I’m looking through here, and that’s half of the food stock right now.”

Charles shrugs.  “It won’t hurt the children to experience another culture and another religion.  A few of the children might even appreciate it, and join you.  And if anyone has any serious problems, we  _ can _ go into town to have them eat out, if there’s no possible way they can’t go without bread for a week.”

“This is absolutely ridiculous.  You can’t just enforce this with no warning!” Erik says.  “And besides, I’m not doing Passover!”

“Not even the… what did you call it… seder?” Charles asks.

It’s Erik’s turn to shrug.  “It’s not that important.”  He turns away so Charles won’t see how important it really is to him, shielding from Charles’ telepathy.  “I don’t have anywhere to go, and I’m not doing it if I don’t do it right.”

“If you say so, my friend,” Charles says.  He wheels out of the kitchen.

Erik sighs, and slams his head against the cupboard as soon as he’s sure Charles is out of hearing range.

***

On the day before the first night of Passover, Erik keeps getting distracted.  He really  _ means  _ to go down into the kitchen, to secure a few plastic dishes, his candlesticks, and some of the traditional foods for a halfhearted seder.  He was really planning on making an apple’s worth of charoset, and going into town to buy a box of matzah and some gefilte fish to hide in his room.

But every time he plans to go into town, there’s some other crisis that has to be attended to.  Jean needs his help specifically, holding up some scrap metal for a project of hers.  Kurt keeps following him around, asking him questions about German, which he seems to be determined to learn.  Peter keeps rushing around him, dithering about who knows what.

So by sunset, Erik is in a bit of a bad mood.  For all of his bravado to Charles a few weeks ago,this is important.  The story of Jewish freedom from slavery in Egypt is an important one- all the more to Erik himself.  The concept of remembering the wrongs of the past to right the future… well.  That’s what the whole world said after the Shoah.  After the camps, and the war, and the slaughter of six million of his people, and five million more besides.  

If only the world had more of a similar mindset to the Jews.  “ Even if all of us were wise, all of us understanding, all of us knowing the Torah, we would still be obligated to discuss the exodus from Egypt ” the haggadah reads.  The idea that each Jew should consider themselves to have gone out of Egypt with their ancestors…  

Well.  If even a part of the gentile world could even show half as much empathy for the survivors of the camps, the world would be a much better and safer place.  But the world is not yet free, nor is it particularly safe, for Jews and gentiles alike, and certainly not for mutants.  “This year we are enslaved, next year may we be free.”

The odds that any of Erik’s people would ever be truly free look decidedly grim.  In that dark state of mind, Erik goes down to the kitchen.  

He immediately notices something is wrong.  There are several pots on the stove, and he recognizes none of them.  The oven is on, and whatever is cooking smells delicious.  And, most disturbingly… he doesn’t see his candlesticks.

With a frown, Erik stalks into the dining hall.  The tables are full of students and teachers alike… and why are the tables lined with a tablecloth?  He opens his mouth to demand to know what happened to his candlesticks, but stops himself, as he sees the candlesticks, complete with candles, sitting on the table where Charles and Hank are already sitting.  

Is that a seder plate in front of them?  “What’s going on?” Erik demands.

“Ah, I’m so glad you have finally joined us, Erik,” Charles says.  “We were just getting ready to start.”

Erik glances around the room.  He doesn’t recognize any of the silverware, or the plates being used.  And each and every child has a book in front of them.  “Begin what?” Erik asks again.

“The seder, of course,” Charles says, as if he hadn’t heard Erik’s rant about not wanting to celebrate not so long ago.  ”Come sit down, Erik.”

A sea of hopeful faces looks up at him.  “When did you do all of this?” Erik asks, moving to sit at his usual place next to Charles.  “How did you have time for this all?”

“We’ve been very busy the past few days,” Hank offers, from Charles’ other side.  “And we had to keep you very busy so you wouldn’t notice.  The metal we only just brought in today.”  They clearly hadn’t wanted him to notice all the new metal in the house.

“Kitty was absolutely indispensable,” Charles says.  “She was the one who picked out which haggadahs to order, among other things.”  Sitting, now, Erik can view the glossy new covers of the haggadah on his plate.  “Actually, Erik, she very much wants to light the candles tonight.”

Nobody touches his candlesticks.  Ever.  But just this once, Erik feels he can make an exception.  “It is a holiday after all.  Go ahead.”  Charles nods to a girl sitting at the edge of the other table.  

Kitty Pryde walks up to the table with confidence.  It’s only then that Erik notices her necklace- a Magen David swinging from her neck.  She strikes a match, and lights the two candles.  Then, she waves her hands through the air three times, and  covers her eyes.  “Baruch atah Adonai, eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav, vitzivanu l’hadlik ner shel Yom Tov.”

“Amen,” everyone around mutters.

“Will you start reading for us, Erik?” Charles asks quietly.

Erik opens the glossy haggadah.  He presses the edge down, flattening the new spine, savoring the new book smell.  It’s not his mother’s well worn, well loved haggadah, covered in stains of matzah ball soup and wine, each page soft to the touch, but with any luck, it will get there someday.  “Welcome to our seder,” Erik reads.  He starts through the motions of the holiday, the Festival of Freedom.  How appropriate, to be celebrating with his fellow mutants, who are not yet free.

And maybe, none of them will be truly free, not in the way that Erik desires so desperately.  But is that freedom really worth the death of millions?  Passover says no.  A midrash of the Torah says that God chided his angels from singing praises when the Red Sea closed over the Egyptians.  “How can you sing ‘Halleluyah’ when my children are dying?” God asked them.

Around the table, each child and teacher takes their turn to read.  No one turns away from the challenge of reading a foreign language, through the transliteration.  There are some stumbles over the names of the ritual foods, and the rabbis, but nothing major.  Erik feels a distinct sense of pleasure- Kitty clearly chose well with a haggadah accessible to everyone.

One of the young children gets up to open the door.  “Behold the matzah, bread of affliction, which our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt!” Erik says, when they finally read the Maggid.  He holds the metal seder plate up in the air, levitating it for all to see.  “Whoever is hungry, let them come and eat, whoever is in need, let them come and conduct the Passover Seder with us.  This year, we are here, next year in the land of Israel.  This year we are enslaved, next year may we be free.”

Several of the youngest children turn to Kitty.  She gestures at them-  _ one, two three! _  To his astonishment, they start to sing.  “Mah nishtana halaila hazeh mikol halailot?”

_ When did they learn this? _ Erik wonders.

_ A few days ago, _ Charles answers him.

The children stumble over a few of the endings of the questions, clearly forgetting the words.  Kitty sings along with them, bolstering their faltering Hebrew with her own, stronger voice.  And they resume reading.

The seder continues, with Erik sitting in awe.  Not a single thing has been forgotten.  They read the whole haggadah, front to back.  Not a single child fidgets throughout, no matter how young they are.

When it comes time for the meal, Erik is yet again amazed.  They’ve pulled out all the stops.  There’s matzah ball soup, gefilte fish, tzimmis, potato kugel, and brisket, along with several vegetable dishes Erik doesn’t realize.  As he takes the first bite into a matzah ball, he can feel Charles’ eyes on him.  Erik gives him a wide, toothy grin.

He hasn’t had a Passover meal this good since… since… well, he can’t remember when.  Probably since before the war.  After, he jumped around, place to place, never really stopping anywhere long enough to make a home, or settle.  For several years, he was in prison, in the Pentagon.  And after DC… well, it hadn’t seemed prudent to make himself in any way different.

But this, this first year back with Charles… this is special.  And to share this holiday with his other people, who are all so clearly making an effort to help… There’s really no comparison.

It’s easily the best Passover Erik has celebrated.

*** 

After the afikomen has been found, the ceremony is completed, and most of the younger children have gone off to bed, Erik sits and watches the candles with Charles.  “Chag sameach, Professor Lehnsherr,” Kitty says quietly to him.

Erik turns to face her.  He’s not sure how he’s managed for so long to miss that she’s Jewish.  “Chag sameach,” he replies.  “Kitty.  How long have you had that necklace?”

“I only just put it back on.  I didn’t wear it all the time I’ve been here,” Kitty answers.  “I was scared.  I’m already different, aren’t I?  And I didn’t know anyone else here was Jewish.  But then, I overheard Professor Xavier and Professor McCoy arguing over how best to hide kosher kitchen supplies for you, and I offered to help.  Maybe we don’t have to hide, anymore.”

“There’s no need to hide anymore,” Erik says.

It’s people like him who make it so that people like her have to hide.  This is specifically true for mutants, but a Jewish connection in a terrorist never helps.  Anti-Semitism is hardly over just because six million of them died a few decades ago.  

In his distraction through his ruminations, Kitty left.  “Are you alright, my friend?” Charles asks him.

“Thank you,” Erik says, meaning it from the bottom of his heart.  “Thank you so much.”

“If you want the house kosher for the week, everyone is prepared.  Anyone who can’t or doesn’t want to is prepared to make arrangements to eat in town when necessary for the week,” Charles says seriously.

“I think… it’s not a bad idea at all,” Erik says.  “Charles…”  But the words get stuck in his throat.  How can he possibly convey how much this means to him?

But Charles simply smiles at him.  “It was really no trouble at all, Erik.”

“You… you ordered new dishes, and hid all the metal until today.  You bought all new haggadot.  All this food… clearly this was some trouble for you all, Charles!”

“Did you enjoy it?” Charles asks.

“Yes.”

“Then it was worth it all.  Besides, as I said, there are certainly other students who will appreciate it, if not now, then in the future,” Charles says.

They sit, and watch the candles go out together.

*****

**Author's Note:**

> Glossary of Terms:  
> Matzah- unleavened bread  
> Seder- the meal surrounding the telling of the going out of Egypt. Seder literally means “order”  
> Chametz- leaven (anything with yeast)  
> Charoset- a mixture of apples, wine, nuts and honey that symbollically represents the bricks and mortar the Israelites built with in Egypt  
> Haggadah- prayer book for the seder, tells the story of the going out of Egypt  
> Tzimmis- a dish made with sweet potatoes, carrots, and pineapple  
> Kugel- a sort of pudding (potato kugel, as mentioned here, is sort of like a baked potato pancake)
> 
> Baruch atah Adonai, eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav, vitzivanu l’hadlik ner shel Yom Tov- Blessed are you, Adonai our God, sovereign of the universe, who hallows us with commandments, and commands us to light the holiday (“good day”) candles.  
> Mah nishtana halaila hazeh mikol halailot?- Why is this night different from all other nights?  
> Chag Sameach- Happy holidays


End file.
